Entering his eighth year at the helm of the Sacred Heart
football team, head coach Paul Gorham has put his stamp on the
Pioneer program. The offensive minded coach has the Pioneers
positioned as a team on the rise in the Northeast Conference.

When he was introduced as Sacred Heart’s seventh football
coach in July of 2004, Gorham brought with him a wealth of
experience and accomplishments in his inaugural season as a
collegiate head coach. He compiled 18 years of experience in the
trenches as an assistant at the Division I-AA and Division II
levels, developing an innovative and exciting offensive
philosophy.

Coach Gorham got the Pioneers back on track in 2008, bouncing
back from three losing seasons with an 8-3 overall mark and a 4-3
record in the NEC. The Pioneers shot out to a 6-0 start to the
season and won eight of their first nine games to post their
highest win total since the 2001 season. In 2011, Gorham made
Sacred Heart history as the Pioneers defeated two Ivy League
programs (Columbia and Dartmouth) in the same season.

Under his tutelage, the Pioneer offense has thrived producing
the program’s all-time leading passer and receiver in Dale
Fink and Steve Tedesco. Fink holds 13 SHU passing records and is
also tops in the Northeast Conference annals breaking the
conference marks in career passing yards and touchdown throws.
Tedesco holds 11 Sacred Heart receiving records. Both finished
their careers by earning places on the FCS All-New England
team.

Prior to joining the Pioneers, Gorham spent five years on the
University of Massachusetts coaching staff as recruiting
coordinator and wide receivers coach. Gorham helped the offense
average 380.4 yards and 28.3 points per game in 2003, including
231.6 passing yards per contest.

Prior to his time at UMass, Gorham worked on the staff at Brown
University for five seasons. He served as the offensive coordinator
on Phil Estes’ staff in 1998, after spending the previous
four years as the offensive line coach under Mark Whipple. In 1998,
Gorham directed a Brown offense that led the Ivy League with an
average of 433.8 yards per game. In addition, Brown’s 1998
offense established 25 team or individual records and five Ivy
League team or individual marks. in 1997, the Brown offense set Ivy
League and school records for total offense (474.3 yards per game),
and the school single game record for total offense (629 yards
against Yale).

During his stint at Brown, Gorham helped develop the
Bears’ offensive line into one of the top units in I-AA. He
produced three first-team All-Ivy League offensive linemen in his
five seasons. The Bears had an overall record of 31-19 during
Gorham’s five years on the staff.

Prior to going to Brown, Gorham served for six years under
Whipple as the recruiting coordinator and offensive line coach at
the University of New Haven. The Chargers achieved national
rankings on four occasions with an offense that led all NCAA
Divisions in total offense (587.7 yards per game) and scoring
offense (52.5 points per game) in 1992. Gorham also served as an
assistant coach at the University of New Hampshire for two seasons
when Whipple was the offensive coordinator.

A 1984 graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Gorham was
an All-Yankee Conference tight end in 1983 for the Wildcats.